Commercial vehicles and some passenger vehicles have been adapted to include an interior compartment partition to isolate the vehicle operator cab portion from a designated cargo or passenger portion. Generally, this was achieved by securing the partition to the vehicle B pillar and a structural roof bow of the vehicle so that a rigid partition can be created that protects the vehicle cab from, in the case of commercial vehicles, shifts in cargo that may cause loads to move from the cargo area to the cab area, and in the case of passenger vehicles, such as, for example police vehicles, isolates the passengers from the officers so that the passengers can be transported with minimal risk to the officers.
There is increasing complexity in the design of commercial and passenger vehicles. For example, with new vehicle safety systems, the B pillar has been used to store side impact air bags. In addition, side impact crash sensors and the accompanying control modules for such systems may also be stored in the B pillar. In the case of Lane Detection Systems, the B pillar is often utilized to store radar or lidar systems, as well as the accompanying control modules to provide alerts to the vehicle operator as necessary.
The wiring for vehicles has also increased in complexity. The roof bows, which used to provide structural support, are now also used as conduits wherein wiring is run to power the safety systems and for other systems within the vehicle.
The use of the B pillars and the roof bows for safety systems and wiring conduits has greatly reduced their ease of use as mounting structures for cargo partition systems. Indeed, mounting a cargo area partition to the roof bow may risk damaging the wiring that runs through the roof bows. Moreover, attaching a partition directly to the B pillar may damage the safety systems stored therein and further may interfere with the deployment of air bags stored in the B pillar.
In addition, vehicle Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) discourage anyone from forming additional holes in the B pillars or other vehicle structures. The OEMs have found that when holes are formed in these structures that the debris from the holes can interfere with other systems. By way of example, debris from a hole drilled into a B pillar can find its way into the seat belt retractors, which are often located in the base of the B pillar. The debris in the retractors can cause them to not work properly or even fail.
In view of the above, there is a need for a cargo or vehicle compartment partition that is rigidly mountable to a vehicle and that does not interfere with the vehicle wiring or the vehicle safety systems and does not require locating additional unplanned holes in the vehicle structure.